The following program is a PBS Wisconsin original production.
>> Democrats chart a new path under new maps and a bigger
caucus, and the minds allegedly behind the false elector scheme
come before the court. [MUSIC]
I'm Frederica Freyberg tonight on "Here& Now" a first look at
priorities for legislative leaders heading into a budget
year. Trump lawyers face a Wisconsin judge.
The status of the continually stalled farm bill, and how one
UW campus is bucking the enrollment trends. It's "Here&
Now" for December 13th. >> Funding for "Here& Now" is
provided by the Focus Fund for Journalism and Friends of PBS
Wisconsin. >> Coming off the election,
state legislative leaders prepare to roll up their sleeves
for the next session and a biennial budget. Senior
political reporter Zach Schultz sat down with Senate and
Assembly leaders this week. The Democrats, who won big in the
redistricting fight and are now looking to use their newfound
seats to leverage policy changes. First up, Assembly
Minority Leader Greta Neubauer, looking back at 2024.
>> What stands out at you as some of the more significant
moments of the year? >> So for over a decade, we have
been working to get fair maps in Wisconsin, and that happened at
the beginning of 2024. We were really pleased to be able to run
last cycle on competitive maps. That had a whole lot of
districts that were, of course, very close. It's really good for
our democracy and it's good for the voters to have more choice.
And we saw that those maps had a significant impact on the
election cycle. We were able to pick up ten seats as the
Assembly Democrats and the Senate picked up several as
well. On the Democratic side. So we're really pleased to see the
numbers get a lot closer in both chambers. We, of course, are
always working towards the majority, but we got pretty far
in one cycle and we are going to use that new power to have real
wins for our constituents in the coming legislative cycle.
>> When speaking just for legislative Democrats. Is it
fair to say the redistricting was probably the most
significant moment of the decade?
>> I think it's certainly up there.
>> Yeah, it can can it be overstated what this changes in
the building? >> No, I don't think it can. I
mean, in terms of the elections as as you and I'm sure many of
your viewers know, it was near impossible for Democrats in the
Assembly and Senate to get a majority under the old maps,
despite often getting about 50% of the vote. Right? Sometimes
over, sometimes a little under. And so now when we get 50% of
the vote, right, that should yield close to 50% of the seats.
And that's a very good thing. We really did not have a
functioning democracy here when it came to the state
legislature. And so now we've got a number of members who are
going to be serving in this body in the upcoming year, who are on
the red side and the blue side, who are in very close seats, and
they're going to be looking over both shoulders, right. And
they're going to know that they've got an election in two
years, and voters are going to expect them to deliver. They're
going to expect them to work hard on their behalf and not
play partisan games. Right. Which often dominated in this
building in the last decade. And I think that's going to be a
really good thing. I'm hopeful that we're going to see a really
productive bipartisan session. >> How does how long does it
take for that culture to shift? Because in way back before the
first set of gerrymandered maps in 2010, you know, the older
members taught new members how to work in the Capitol. But the
most of the existing members have only lived under that
strict, gerrymandered partizan divide. So what will it take for
new members to understand and work with new people about? How
does compromise legislation look like?
question. I guess the first thing I'll say is we have 23 new
Assembly Democrats this year. That's actually a majority of
our caucus. That's going to be new legislators. Many of them,
of course, coming from local government or other backgrounds
where they were interacting with the legislature. So they know a
little bit about it. But I think it's a really good thing that we
have so many new people coming in, because I think that is
going to help with this culture shift in really a new era for
the legislature. We only have one member who served in the
majority, and that's Chris Sinicki. And so she, I'm sure is
going to be helping our caucus understand what it was like to
really be in a different position. But I will say that
last session, things already started to change, right? With
new maps coming in, we saw much more negotiation. We saw
bipartisan legislation on housing and the Brewers and
shared revenue. And I think we're going to see that only
increase. But we did get some practice last session in those
negotiations, working with our colleagues and trying to get
some big things done. >> Once again, we're coming into
a budget season with a large surplus in the state.
Republicans have already talked about there has to be a tax cut.
What kind of a tax cut could you expect Democrats to actually
vote for? Yeah. session, we put forward
alongside the governor. Right. A middle class working families
tax cut. We are very happy to have conversations about doing
something like that. Again, we do have a significant surplus.
And we also know that many people are struggling to make
ends meet in Wisconsin due to recent inflation. And so we're
going to engage in those conversations in good faith. I
would say that the challenge is that Republicans keep coming
forward with policy proposals on on tax cuts that are really
about benefiting the richest people in Wisconsin. And
corporations. And that's just not something that we're
interested in doing. We want a tax cut that is going to put
money in the pockets of people who really need it. And we are
looking forward to those conversations.
a Biden administration that sent a lot of funds into the state of
Wisconsin. What are you expecting from a Trump
administration, especially since they've talked about cutting
federal agencies or some of the money that flows into the state?
>> Yeah, I think we need to be prepared to take care of
ourselves in many ways. I expect that some federal funds will
have strings attached that we don't want, and we are going to
need to do everything we can to support our local governments
and our schools and our higher education institutions to
continue to function and to provide great services to their
students and the people who live in Wisconsin. And that's going
to be a big discussion in the state budget, right? I think
we're going to really need to think about how we're going to
invest in our schools and how we're going to make sure that we
are starting giving each kid in Wisconsin the opportunity to
start life on a strong footing. The legislature has not done its
part in the past, and I don't think that our schools are going
to get bailed out by the federal government. So I'm hoping we can
have a really robust conversation and see
significantly increased coming budget.
>> Representative Neubauer, great to speak with you.
>> Thank you. >> Next up, Senate Minority
Leader Dianne Hesselbein, who says that because Democrats are
no longer in the super minority, she hopes her party can work
more closely with Republicans who need their votes.
>> So you are new in this position. A year ago, you were
not the minority leader in the Senate. What have you learned in
your first year running this caucus? Even, you know, few few
months in session and then the election? Yeah.
>> Well, conversations matter and treating people with respect
matters. And I think that's what was first elected to this in
2012. And I will continue to do that. I really feel that you can
disagree without being disagreeable, and that's
something that my whole, my whole caucus can lead with.
>> So walk me through the election and the results for
you. was I was just so disappointed
on that night with what was happening with President Trump
and his gains in so many states, including ours. But at the same
time, during that same time, we were getting wins. And so we'd
find out like, oh, Jamie Wall won green Bay or this one won or
Keyeski won. So at the same time when inwardly I was like, oh my
gosh, this is terrible for the United States, the Senate
Democrats, in a very tough Trump election year, we won. We wanted
to win all five seats that we set forth to win, and we did it.
And we flipped four of those when the original narrative was,
you know, Republican blowout, has you recalculated that?
>> Have people started to reevaluate what actually
happened in Wisconsin on election night?
>> I think I think they have I think they realize that in a
Trump wave, we were able to hold on to Tammy Baldwin, which is
extremely important in the US Senate, and then making gains in
both the Wisconsin State Senate and the Wisconsin State Assembly
is really huge. And I really think that's because we finally
have fair maps, and people finally had a chance at the
they wanted to. >> So we obviously have a budget
coming up next year. What does the new makeup of the Senate
means in terms of Democrats maybe having a voice in the
budget, as opposed to relying on Governor Evers and just
protecting his veto? super minority, right? The
Republicans no longer have a supermajority in the Senate. And
with 18 Republicans and 15 Democrats, I'm really hoping
that we can work in a bipartisan fashion the entire way through
the state budget. So maybe for the first time since I was first
elected in 2012, maybe I can get to a yes to a vote for a budget
would be really exciting. I think the Republicans are going
to need our votes to get through. And certainly I have an
open door policy to try to make that happen.
do you think Democrats are most likely to be involved in that?
>> Well, I've already had a meeting with Senator LeMahiue
and Senator Falkowski this week, and we're going to continue to
have those conversations starting in January, because the
original joint finance process usually takes quite a while, and
that's where a lot of the work gets done.
>> But then there is that kind of free for all when it comes
back to the floor. And you can offer some of your own
amendments. Do you think by then it'll be too late to change
what's already on the in the bill?
might need our votes to get things done, so we'll see. I
mean, we're going to be talking the entire way through and
hopefully get to a finished package that we can all live
with, or at least the majority of us can live with and be happy
about. But we'll see. We're certainly open to however we can
maneuver so we can get something positive to the governor's desk.
>> In past budgets, Senator LeMahiue has been able to allow
some of his more conservative members to vote no against the
budget because he's had that that flexibility in terms of his
raw numbers. Now, he doesn't. Do you anticipate that means he'll
be leaning more on them, or do you think he'll be leaning more
on Democrats? think he's going to have a hard
row to navigate. But I know, like I said, I have an open door
process and I'm willing to help out where I can.
>> Looking at the national perspective, there's been a lot
of money flowing from the Biden administration into Wisconsin.
occur with the Trump administration?
the Trump administration is going to do, but I'm hoping that
we can continue working together and getting some things done for
the people in the state of Wisconsin. I think Sean Duffy
being in transportation is going to be could be helpful for us. I
don't know him personally. I've never met him, but I think
somebody that knows Wisconsin is good for us.
>> There have been talk at the Trump, at the Trump level to
eliminate the Department of Education altogether and, quote,
return education to the states. What would that look like and
how would that play out in terms of the legislature having to
take some steps? >> Yeah, I'm curious of how that
would look, because certainly, you know, we get federal money
from the federal government for education. And honestly, our
IEPs that we do with federal protection for kids that have
special needs and special disabilities and to help them
moving forward in their educational process. So I have a
lot of questions. If they return things to the States, I know
that in our state, superintendent Jill Underly is
doing a really good job, but I worry about what's going on in
other states in Alabama and Texas and where their scores are
really not doing well. And so I'm kind of worried what that
would do. >> Thank you very much for next
week. Republican counterparts. Turning
to the 2020 election, lawyers at the center of the false elector
case from the 2020 election had an initial appearance in Dane
County Court this week. >> They do find there is
probable cause to proceed under the amended complaint, as it was
filed December 10th. >> Jim Troupis and two other men
were acting as lawyers for the Trump campaign in 2020 when they
arranged for ten Republicans to sign papers claiming they were
the electors from Wisconsin. The lawyers have each been charged
with 11 felony counts of forgery. Troupis is a longtime
Republican lawyer from Wisconsin. The electors have not
been charged, with each claiming they were duped by Troupis and
the Trump campaign into signing, believing the paperwork would
only be needed if Trump won his legal cases to overturn the
election. Instead, the false electoral documents were sent to
Washington, where Trump's staffers attempted to use
Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson to get the false electors to Vice
President Mike pence. On January 6th. Troupis is calling the
charges lawfare and says they are an attack on democracy. The
three defendants are free on signature bonds and will be back
in court for a preliminary hearing in January.
Environmental groups and the bad River tribe in northern
Wisconsin this week formally challenged wetland and waterway
permits. The DNR issued to reroute the Enbridge oil
pipeline that traverses tribal land. Bad River Tribal Chairman
Robert Blanchard expressed worries about the pipeline
damaging the ecosystem. >> We do have a annual harvest
of our wild rice, which is which grows along the rivers here in
bad River and in Lake Superior, and we hunt, we fish, and we
gather a lot of our, our medicines that that we use to
heal ourselves here. And, and if they are, something happens to
them. You know, our people are going to feel that, you know, we
have a lot at stake here. >> Farmers in Wisconsin and
across the nation wait and watch the unfolding and hurried
negotiations in Washington over a new farm bill. The old farm
bill needs to be extended by December 20th or Key farm
programs expire by the end of the year. Now, 80% of the
roughly $500 billion farm bill goes to nutritional aid for low
income people. The rest includes price supports, crop insurance
and other programs directed at producers. It's a lot of money
and a lot of programs here to weigh in on the progress is
Tyler Wenzlaff of the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation. And
thanks very much for being here. Thank you. So what are the most
important parts of the farm Bill for Wisconsin producers?
>> Yeah. So some of the priorities that Wisconsin Farm
Bureau has been advocating for is changes to reference prices.
As you alluded to earlier, we would like to see a change in
the DMC program, which is a dairy margin program, changing
the tier one coverage from 5 million pounds to 6 million
pounds, and then also changes to the dairy business initiative.
And so right now it's funded at $20 million with the help of
Senator Baldwin and Congressman Van Orton. We'd like to see that
money moved to $36 million. >> So you you talked about a lot
of programs that might be kind of like a foreign language to a
lot of viewers, but it has to do with price support. Is that
right? >> For sure. Yeah. The dairy
margin coverage program is something that covers small to
medium farms. And so Wisconsin has the highest participation
rate in the country at over 80%. And so we'd like to make sure
that as our dairy herds become a little bit bigger, this program
modernizes with those programs, with those farms.
>> So what is the status of talks around this in Washington
right now? Yeah. >> So negotiations are hot and
heavy right now. So we could see a deal by the end of the
weekend. And Congress has been very good at pushing off things.
They've gotten to an extreme level right now where we only
have four days left in the congressional session. And so
what we're hoping for is a clean extension into next year. And
that's probably the most likely scenario. And we hope to have
something confirmed by the end of the weekend and voted on next
week. >> What happens if nothing is
confirmed or voted on? >> Yeah. So Wisconsin probably
faces the most dire situation because of our reliance on
dairy. We're facing what's called the dairy cliff. If we
don't have something done by the end of the year. So if we don't
have an extension done, USDA would be forced to revert back
to permanent law, which is from 1949. And so they would have to
begin purchasing dairy products at accelerated levels. So that
would be at twice the price of what we see right now. So
instead of farmers getting 25, $24 per hundredweight for their
products, they'd see $50. And so while that may sound like a boon
to Wisconsin farmers, the chaos that it would put into markets
would would outweigh any kind of benefits.
will be a deal for the one year extension by the end of the
weekend? know, when you talk to different
congressional offices, the most likely scenario is a clean
extension into next year with a continuing resolution to fund
the government that has ad hoc disaster and economic assistance
as well. >> So it appears that the
incoming Trump administration wants to deeply cut spending.
What concerns are there for spending in the farm bill?
>> Yeah, so that's one of the things that we really have been
taking a look at is what does that mean for Snap benefits?
Because while those support those that go to the grocery
store that are low income, it also supports Wisconsin farmers.
They're buying Wisconsin farmer products. And so we hope that we
can take a look at and make sure that those reforms are moderated
in the future, because again, Snap is kind of the former food
stamp program. Yep, yep. Exactly.
>> And again, farmers products go to stores for people to buy
that. >> Yep. Yep. Definitely. And so
connection the connection between, you know, the nutrition
program and snap and Wisconsin dairy farmers is very deep in
something especially in Wisconsin is very something that
we have to be very mindful of something else on the headlines
right now is around raw milk. >> And I have two questions on
that for you. First, what is your position on the consumption
of raw milk and second, what about the testing requirements
that are now being rolled out for dairy farmers around testing
raw milk against things like bird flu? Sure.
>> So Wisconsin Farm Bureau has a policy that we believe right
now. It is up to the consumer whether they want to purchase
raw milk or get that from the farm. We would say that it is
not the best idea to do. There are some health concerns that
come with that, and it's probably better for the consumer
to get pasteurized milk from the grocery store, but that is up to
the consumer to decide. When it comes to testing for bird flu,
USDA has rolling is in the process of rolling out new
mandates for testing. They are beginning with the six pilot
program, states that they started with a couple of months
ago. Wisconsin will begin testing over the next couple of
months, and we're working with USDA and our Department of
Agriculture and Trade and Consumer Protection to make sure
those details are worked out and how that that testing will be
done, because Wisconsin isn't like a lot of other states where
we only have 80 dairy farms, we have over 5000. And so testing
each and each one of those is going to be a hefty lift.
>> Yeah. Tyler Wenzlaff, thanks >> Yeah. Thank you.
>> UW schools separate from the flagship in Madison, mostly see
falling enrollment and budget woes. As a result, some branch
campuses have been closed altogether, resulting in
layoffs. Some majors have been eliminated, and there has been
belt tightening all around. The UW administration is asking the
legislature for $855 million in the next two year budget to
shore up the system. That's expected to be a fight with
Republican legislators. Amidst all of this, though, a bright
spot, UW green Bay this fall saw record high enrollment of 7000
full time students and eliminated its deficit last
year. How did they do it? We turn to UW green Bay Chancellor
Michael Alexander. Ahead of that, we should note PBS
Wisconsin is part of UW-Madison. And Chancellor, thanks very much
for being here. >> Thanks very much for having
me. >> So that big question is how
did you boost enrollment to these levels?
>> Well, I think we're really trying to redefine how we view
who a student could be. So we really view a student as anyone
who wants to learn. And we feel that as a regional
comprehensive, we should be of value to every citizen in
northeast Wisconsin, whether they be, you know, all the way
from pre-K, all the way through retirement, right, that there
should be some way that the this regional comprehensive we are
serving people who want to continue their education. So we
work everything from a lot of college credit in high school.
Our dual enrollment with students, obviously, we have
traditional students who come live on campus. We have a ton of
commuters. We have a ton of people who are in the workforce
who come with us, and we teach over 85,000 people a year in
Noncredit work to help them advance their careers and their
lives. >> So do you feel as though UW
green Bay has is starting to become known as a place where
people in different stages of their life can go and get that
degree? >> I hope so, I think we are
doing everything we can to make sure that we are viewing
education through the eyes of a student. In other words, what
makes it convenient for a student to advance their life
through education as opposed to just thinking about what may be
convenient for us? So we're adapting the university as fast
as we can to live in that reality. In the modern world,
where people have complicated lives and we need to meet them
where they are to make sure they can have education, be a part of
it. campuses will be using yours as
a model? Example? >> I don't know, but I know that
every campus in the UW system is doing really amazing work, and
all of us have very different circumstances based on location
and all the different things. I think I'm really, really proud
to have amazing colleagues across the system that are doing
an amazing job educating students.
>> At the same time, your Marinette branch campus closed
in-person classes and UW green Bay eliminated some majors,
including theater. What do you say to people who say campuses
are now just trying to kind of turn out industry specific
workers rather than focus on college attainment in the
liberal arts for its own sake? >> Well, I think that's a really
great question. I think that we believe very strongly that the
reason you come to a university is because you're going to learn
more than just a skill for, for a job. You're going to learn
skills that will help you throughout your life and your
career. That has to be skills that you learn through the
liberal arts, like communication, like
understanding how to how to talk to people who have differing
ideas than you do. So important in the modern world, and
learning through things like theater. So we are looking very
carefully about how to make sure we can get more students who
take things like theater. It doesn't mean we have to have a
major in it. We believe, though, that those liberal arts classes
are core to who we are, and Marinette is a great example of
this. Marinette we have a technical college that's right
next door to us in Marinette, and we still have options for
education in Marinette for students who need the university
for an access point to their classes. But we've really
invested in the theater. There, and the theater in Marinette now
is thriving. It's sold out performances. It has really
grown under UW green Bay, and we're really proud of that. It's
I think we have to look at education differently and we
view Marinette broadly as a success, even though we don't
have in-person classes anymore. >> So you had to spend down your
reserves, I understand, to get rid of the deficit. How much
does UW green Bay need an infusion of state dollars to
keep going, even with your enrollment success?
>> I think it's really important that the state look at how it's
investing in education to make sure that we're preparing the
workforce. We need for the future. And if you look at this,
and if you look, there's a Georgetown study that talked
about this, about what good jobs will look like. And by good
jobs, it's not white collar, blue collar. I'm talking about.
It's just jobs that are going to be able to pay well and more and
more of those as we look into the next decade, are going to
require education beyond high school. And it's certainly
possible to have a rewarding career and not have any
experience beyond high school. It's just the odds of having a
high paying job are less right. And so how do we make sure that
we're putting people and allowing people to evolve in the
workforce? As the workforce skills you need change so
quickly in the current age, if you think about even AI and what
kind of skills we will need in the future, this is really
important. >> All right. Chancellor Michael
Alexander, we'll leave it there. Thank you very much.
>> Thank you for having me. >> For more on this and other
issues facing Wisconsin, visit our website at PBS Wisconsin.
Org and then click on the news tab. That's our program for
tonight. I'm Frederica Freyberg. Have a good weekend.
>> Funding for "Here& Now" is provided by the Focus Fund for
Journalism and Friends of PBS
Wisconsin.